President Obama came, he spoke, and he conquered

We’ve all seen lots of State of the Union addresses, but we’ve never seen one like Obama’s, last night.

It wasn’t a laundry list of legislative proposals. It wasn’t a wish list of presidential promises. And it didn’t turn into a high-school pep rally between Republicans and Democrats.

Instead, what we saw and heard was just what a State of the Union address should be: a serious, intelligent, visionary look at where we are today as a people and where we need to go, together, to make this country even greater than it is today.

We are the greatest nation on earth, Obama reminded us. But, to remain great, we can’t stand still. We must invest in new technologies and new possibilities. We must innovate to develop new products and new means of transport. And we must give our kids the best education possible – to make sure we have the trained workforce necessary to lead us into the future.

Last night’s speech was, above all, a celebration of the American dream. A challenge to all Americans to work together and to be the best we can be.

Now the only question is: Are Republicans in Congress willing to put aside their petty differences and live up to that challenge.

The host of TYT Network's nationally-syndicated Bill Press Show (Monday-Friday from 7-9am ET), Press attends the daily White House press briefing and writes a weekly column for the powerhouse politics website The Hill.